Book Critic
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Review: Thwarted Queen by Cynthia Sally Haggard
The Plantagenet kings helped shape England from a colony to a structured monarchy and super-power during the middle ages. But like all great things, the Plantagenet era was coming to an end during the fifteenth century. Tensions were already high in England especially during the reign of Henry VI who suffered doubts of madness. Richard Duke of York was appointed protector of the realm but within a short amount of time, the famous War of the Roses was in full swing. In this novel we meet the spirited woman who would be the mother of two notorious kings: Cecylee de Neville. When young Cecylee marries Richard Duke of York she has no idea what her…
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Review: There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories by Ludmila Petrushevskaya
What can I say, I am a sucker for books with compelling titles and let’s be honest….tell me you didn’t see this title and you weren’t the slightest bit curious? When I was approached by Penguin to review this book, how could I say no….especially with Valentines Day around the corner. Besides the title of this book, the cover also attracted my eye, and then I started reading the description, honestly I would have reviewed the book based on title alone, but the description sealed the deal….Poe meets Tolstoy? Who can say no to that! In this collection of short stories Petrushevskaya explores the darker side of love. Many of the…
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Review: Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles by Ron Currie, Jr.
Here is a post modern novel after my own heart. In his latest novel Ron Currie, Jr sets out to tell the capital-T Truth about his life, career, and his tumultuous love affair with a woman no one could ever hold a candle to, Emma. He has been in love with Emma since the moment he met her in eighth grade, after a short romance in their teens, Ron and Emma went their separate ways. Emma married another man while Ron tried desperately to escape Emma’s ghost by finding comfort in the arms of many other women. Later in life their paths cross and they begin their romantic relationship again, even…
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Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson
Financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist’s, life is falling apart. Not only is he being sued for libel and facing jail time and mounting financial losses, his boss (who happens to be his sometimes lover) is forced into accepting his resignation. When he is at his lowest point, Blomkvist is approached with a curious offer of employment. Henrik Vanger is a wealthy, retired CEO of a major Swedish company, Vanger Cooperation. Vanger wants Blomkvist to use his trained journalists eye and find out what happened to his niece who mysteriously disappeared in the 1960’s. Blomkvist doesn’t really have a whole lot of options….he needs the money Vanger is offering but Vanger also…
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Review: The Cross and the Dragon by Kim Rendfeld
Under Charlemagne’s reign, Francia was no stranger to war. War was just part of every day life in 773, but so were romance and chivalry. Alda’s brother, Count Alfihar of Drachenhaus, is starting marriage negotiations for her to wed the wealthy and good looking, but cruel Count Ganelon of Dormagen. Alda has no desire to marry Ganelon at all, she would rather wed another….Prince Hruodland, heir to the March of Brittany but alas he is of royal blood and far above the reach of a Countess. But yet Alda and her uncle can’t help but sense Hruodland is more than interested in Alda’s hand. Ganelon is jealous of the friendship between…
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Review: A Parachute in the Lime Tree by Annemarie Neary
While Ireland might have been neutral during WWII, it doesn’t mean that the war didn’t effect the lives of it’s Irish residents. Kitty in Dunkerrin, a small town in the middle of Ireland. One morning she wakes up to find a parachute hanging from one of her lime trees. The previous night, Belfast was hit by Luftwaffe air raiders so Kitty can only assume the parachute belongs to a German. She later finds the airman raiding her kitchen and injured. Hi name is Oskar and he explains that he has deserted the war and wishes her no harm. Kitty agrees to help Oskar. Oskar has one mission in mind when he…
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Review: A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5) by George R. R. Martin
Not all men were meant to dance with dragons…but Daenerys Targaryen can!In the fifth book of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, we find ourselves across the Narrow Sea waiting to see if Daenerys Targaryen will ever make it back to Westeros and reclaim her birthright! In A Feast for Crows, we met a lot of new characters along with a few familiar favorites. Since AFFC and ADWD were supposed to be one long book, I expected to see some overlap in the timeline and more of our fav characters in this book….and I was right, many of my fav characters were back! I will try to make…
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Review: Celebrating Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane Austen’s Masterpiece by Susannah Fullerton
Unless you have been living under a rock since your inception….odds are you have probably heard of the world’s most infamous romance novel….Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It is a universally acknowledged truth that every literary major is in want of Mr Darcy. What is it about P&P that still captivated audiences 200 years after its publication? Susannah Fullerton explores what makes P&P so memorable for readers. Is it the characters: the dashing Mr Darcy or the unconventional Elizabeth Bennet? Or is it something more mechanical, say the literary style and use of ‘free indirect speech’ (FID) that sparks your interest? Perhaps you love P&P for an entirely different reason:…
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Review: The Darlings by Cristina Alger
The economy is in a downward spiral and no one knows this better than those in the world of high finance. On Wall Street on of the leaders in the world of hedge funds and wealth is billionaire Carter Darling. The Darling family is well known in the powerful circles of New York City’s elite upper class….a world where a house in the Hamptons, offshore bank accounts, hedge funds, corporate corruption, tabloid gossip, and extra marital affairs are all a common part of the society. When attorney Paul Ross married Carter Darling’s daughter, Merrill, he knew what he was getting into but what he didn’t know was he would…
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Review: A Wreath of Snow: A Victorian Christmas Novella by Liz Curtis Higgs
It’s Christmas Eve and snow has started falling on the small Scotland town of Stirling. Margaret Campbell has just had a row with her family and wants nothing more than to catch the first train out of Stirling back to Edinburgh. Gordon Shaw has just completed his interview for the newspaper he works for and he too is eager to leave Stirling but for an entirely different reason. Stirling was his home long ago until the shame of a tragic accident forced him to move away. The snow is coming down harder when the train finally departs from Stirling with Margaret and Gordon on board when it collides with a large snow…